Residents in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine work with faculty on their own research projects. Ongoing research in the department includes developing a new technique that may restore sensory loss after injury; developing new, noninvasive brain stimulation technique to treat neurological disorders, including pain, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease; successfully reprogramming glial cells in the central nervous system into new neurons that promote recovery after spinal cord injury and revealing an untapped potential to leverage these cell for regenerative medicine.
Under the mentorship of a faculty surgeon, surgeon-scientist or scientist, residents may develop a research question, draft a protocol, submit it to the Institutional Review Board, develop a database, conduct the assessments and data collection, data analysis — oftentimes in conjunction with the IU School of Medicine Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science — and prepare a manuscript for submission to a journal. Residents are encouraged to apply for internal and external funding sources to support their research.